


White-Robed Guanyin

by TheAuthorGod



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Buddhism, Canon Compliant, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Feelings, Gen, Human Castiel, M/M, Nearly Human Castiel, Parent Dean, Protective Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-10
Packaged: 2018-03-07 00:08:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3153416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAuthorGod/pseuds/TheAuthorGod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On their latest hunt, Dean is saved by some sort of white-robed supernatural being.  Sam, being Sam, goes to research it while Dean and Cas take care of themselves and some of the chores that need doing.  Dean decides that Sam has been gone long enough; and, he and Cas go looking for him.<br/>Maybe what Sam found is more than Dean was ready for, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	White-Robed Guanyin

**Author's Note:**

> UNPROOF'D. UNBETA'D. Mistakes are my own; characters are not.
> 
> No clue what to tag this with/as. Any suggestions?
> 
> So, I have been reading up on Buddhism for my religion class and my teacher thinks I’m really smart when really I just know a lot of the stuff from Supernatural. This story happened because this was all I could think about while reading the assigned text. PS. Please don’t hate me; I am not an expert in Buddhism.
> 
> Originally posted on Tumblr [here](http://unconventional-angel.tumblr.com/post/98816901463/white-robed-guanyin).

The Mara - or A Mara or a piece of the great Mara or whatever the heck it was, since Dean wasn’t very good with Buddhism - charges again. Having already disarmed Sam and thrown him against a wall, the Mara seems to realize that Dean was in the room.

Cas lays on the ground making small whimpering sounds that tear through Dean. Cas being human makes the jobs so much harder. Cas being his kind-of-boy-friend-thing makes them harder still. Cas getting hurt is worse than Dean getting hurt.

Stupidly paying attention to Cas on the ground, Dean misses the Mara’s windup. The Mara punches him in the gut. Dean flies across the room and lands in a large vat of water.

The Mara follows. Dean treads water and lifts his head to breath but the Mara is there, pushing his head back under the water. The Mara’s head submerges and, without opening its mouth - using some sort of telepathy, says, “So much desire to prove yourself; so much desire I will take from you. I will devour it.” 

Dean twists to escape but the Mara’s grip if firm. In a last ditch effort, almost subconsciously, Dean calls out with his mind. ’Help me.”

A bright light appears behind Mara; Dean cannot see it clearly until his head is pulled up from under the water, removing the wavy lens through which he had been seeing the bright guest. A being in a white robe throws back Mara and tells it that it must leave.

Dean rolls his eyes - yeah, a threat like that would throw off this being.

The Mara turns and pulls Dean out of the water and sets him next to Castiel, surprising Dean. It growls in his face and, using telepathy again, remarks, “The gods must like you.” The Mara disappears.

The white-robed figure floats over to Sam and touches him on his arm so he wakes. She smiles, close-lipped. 

She moves to Dean and breathes of him. ”I am always with you.” She says.

She disperses into the air.

Dean looks around then to Cas who is staring where the being dispersed. ”What the hell?”

Cas turns and shrugs. Sam vows to look it up.

Dean gets up and looks over Sam and sows up his wounds. 

They leave the warehouse in favor of motel beds before they complete the hunt. They all hunker down to sleep, after a short argument, in which Sam won because he was both injured and the biggest, Cas and Dean share a bed.

Dean doesn’t mind and Cas never minds. Dean lies on his stomach and even his breathing but sleep doesn’t come until Cas shifts and drapes and arm over Dean.

—-

They wake and Sam is gone.

Cas smiles at Dean, “Good morning.”

Dean grumbles, twists and pops his neck before shifting to look at Cas, “Right back at you.” He pauses and looks over Cas’ face. ”Are you okay? You took a beating yesterday too.”

Cas shifts closer before whispering. ”We both did. Yet we are both fine.”

Dean sighs and stretches. ”What do you think that was?”

"I think that I know, but I also think you will be insulted if I try to explain."

Dean shifts. ”Seriously?!? What the hell was it then?”

Cas shakes his head and rises for the day.

—-

Dean has been going crazy most of the day, approaching the subject from every direction he could think of but Cas would merely smile and turn away, changing the topic or letting the room burble off into a light silence.

Dean sighs while standing next to Cas at the grocery store; they need to restock. ”Is it a bad thing?”

Cas retracts his hand from the freezer. He looks over Dean’s face. Dean fidgets.

"No. I just think that Sam should be the one to tell you. It is not my place." He reaches into the freezer, again.

Dean holds out the basket for Castiel to place the goods - carrots that Dean didn’t care about and pie that Dean _really_ cared about - and takes the extra weight easily. ”But it isn’t bad.”

Cas smiles. ”No, it is not bad.” He rests a hand on Dean’s shoulder and kisses him lightly on the cheek before turning to walk up the aisle.

—-

Dean sat on the motel bed, legs bouncing staring at his phone. ”Where is he? He’s been out all day.” He turns to look at Cas whose usually calm face was beginning to tug with concern around the edges.

"I expected that he would need time to process; but, I agree this is getting excessive."

Dean jumps up. ”Process what?”

Cas holds his hands out in a calming gesture. Dean’s body slackens. 

Cas’ fingers reach out for Dean. ”Process what the appearance of the… 'woman' means. It isn’t a bad thing; but, it is a big thing.”

Dean nods. He grabs his coat from the bed and slings Cas his. ”Put that on. We’re going to go looking for him.”

Cas pulls the hoodie on with a small smirk quirking the edge of his lips. ”Alright.”

—-

They find Sam on Dean’s second guess, a museum. An arts museum that was filled with people in dress clothes and made Dean feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Cas had suggested that they split up but Dean shot that down. ”I don’t need to be looking for both of you, alright. Stay with me.”

Cas nods.

Sam is sitting quietly on a bench in the center of a large room filled with Chinese and Japanese relics. Dean takes in and huge breath when he sees him, letting it out slowly and allowing his shoulders to relax.

He strides over and sits on the bench next to Sam. Cas leans in the doorway. Sam doesn’t seem to notice them.

Dean clears his throat, startling Sam. ”Hey.”

Sam startles. His eyes are red and puffy; his cheeks flushed with emotion. ”Hi, uh, so, yeah.”

Dean waits. He’s a patient man when it came to his family, surprisingly so most times. 

Sam looks to the wall. Dean follows with his eyes, eventually resting his attention on a long scroll with a female figure robed in white holding a small child. Dean cannot read the large calligraphy so instead stands and walks to the plaque.

He reads it.

He stops reading it. 

He can’t read it.

He turns to Cas who watches on with a look of concern and support etched into his eyes, his shoulders.

Sam stands. ”So, get this. I found a book that mentions a Buddhist bodhisattva called Guanyin. She is kind of like a god in Buddhism. It says-“

"Don’t read it." Dean hardens his face.

Cas stands up from where he had been leaning. Sam shifts, holding what Dean expects is a photocopy.

Sam blinks his eyes. ”I need to read it.”

Dean shakes his head. ”No you don’t. Cas knows. I know. You know. Reading it aloud won’t do anything more.” Dean turns and walks to the archway, tapping Cas and turning him to leave.

"But; this is bigger than something left unsaid." Sam glares at the wall then at Cas then a Dean.

Dean breathes and turns back. ”It’s been unsaid for years. It’s never changed. It never will change. Now, let’s go.” Dean wraps an arm around Cas’ waist and they walk like that away from the exhibition room.

Sam leaves the tear-stained piece of paper on the bench and follows.

—-

"The sutra also promised that Guanyin would provide sons to the childless. This power was particularly associated with the White-Robed Guanyin, who begins to be represented in Chinese art and literature in the tenth century. … [T]he bodhisattva Guanyin … appeared with one thousand golden arms and eyes of diamonds." 

-The Story of Buddhism by Donald S. Lopez pp. 81-82.

Sam’s scrawl appeared on the bottom of the page in bright red ink.

"Why would she come to save Dean? She is the protector of mothers."


End file.
